Shortly after voting down the “one big beautiful” tax bill, House Democrats introduced Resolution 453 to designate a day in May 2025 as “Disability Reproductive Equity Day.”
Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley introduced the bill to establish a symbolic equity holiday Thursday, with co-sponsorship from Democratic California Rep. Lateefah Simon, Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar and Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez.
The bill’s introduction comes one week after the House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s comprehensive legislative package aimed at tax relief and economic reform.
Reproductive justice & disability justice are inextricably linked.
With Republicans attacking Medicaid and reproductive freedom, I’m reintroducing my resolution affirming equitable access to reproductive care for people with disabilities. pic.twitter.com/RID5wtWzDd
— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) May 29, 2025
The new legislation proposed by Democrats claims to commemorate the rights of people with disabilities. (RELATED: ROOKE: Planned Parenthood Has Found A New Way To Target Kids)
Citing a “long history of reproductive coercion impacting people with disabilities,” the bill argues that many have been systematically denied their “reproductive autonomy.”
The bill states that about 4.1 million parents in the U.S. have disabilities, while about one in four adults live with a disability and roughly one in ten “people with disabilities” are capable of becoming pregnant.
It specifically highlights “women with disabilities, people of color with disabilities, people with disabilities with low incomes, and LGBTQI+ people with disabilities.”
The bill was introduced just days after all 212 House Democrats voted against a Republican-backed tax package that would extend key provisions of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. (RELATED: ‘Not Gonna Put Up With It’: Comer Gets Into Screaming Match With Dem Rep Over Crime Committed By Illegal Immigrants)
Key components of Trump’s legislation include measures to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, while expanding tax breaks for Americans aged 65 and older—provisions that deliver on several of Trump’s campaign promises if passed by Congress, having already been approved in a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill on May 20.
The spending package is also expected to deliver on Trump’s promise to secure the border by allocating over $100 billion toward strengthening border security and immigration enforcement.
The Democrats’ bill addresses issues such as sterilization, stating that 31 states and Washington, D.C., currently have laws permitting the forced sterilization of individuals with disabilities.
The bill also claims that “people with and without disabilities want children at the same frequency, but people with disabilities are less likely to receive contraception counseling and timely prenatal care, experience a higher rate of sterilization, and are at a greater risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes.”
Additionally, it underscores the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
Disability justice is reproductive justice.
But for too long, our disabled siblings have been denied high-quality reproductive & sexual healthcare.
My resolution designates Disability Reproductive Equity Day & is a call to action to protect & codify this essential care for all. pic.twitter.com/XEpLANXnUP
— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) June 7, 2024
The legislation adds that “nearly 3,000,000 reproductive-aged women with disabilities live in States that have, or are likely to have, abortion bans.” (RELATED: Trump-Appointed Judge Strikes Down Mandate For Abortion Accommodations At Work)
It also stated that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in group care settings are at a heightened risk of “physical and sexual abuse” and said women with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to experience sexual violence.
Presley previously introduced a bill to designate a day in May 2024 as “Disability Reproductive Equity Day.”
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